Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid took a knee in protest before a 27-14 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills on Friday night before a shocked crowd – most of whom thought the entire issue of disrespecting the National Anthem and the flag was in the NFL’s past.

Ratings since the Colin Kaepernick-inspired protests began have been clobbered and the NFL has struggled to get back on track, including making a some sort of deal with high-profile hip-hop mogul Jay-Z. But Reid was having none of it:

Afterward, he took another shot at the partnership between the NFL and Jay-Z, who said during an introductory press conference this week “I think we’re past kneeling … I think it’s time for action.”

“For one, when has Jay-Z ever taken a knee to come out and tell us that we’re past kneeling?” said Reid, per ESPN. “Yes, he’s done a lot of great work, a lot of great social justice work. But for you to get paid to go into an NFL press conference and say that we’re past kneeling? Again, asinine. Players Coalition 2.0, he got paid to take the bullets that he’s taking now because we’re not having it.”

Reid, who joined the Panthers three weeks into the 2018 season, kneeled before every game last year, although no Panthers teammates joined him.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Reid’s reason for kneeling is to “protest racial inequality and social injustice in America.”

Reid is close friends with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick from their days as teammates with the 49ers. Kaepernick is well known for his protests during the anthem. Both players settled a collusion lawsuit with the NFL last year.

“Jay-Z made a money move. He’s capitalized on this situation. Nobody to my knowledge talked about social justice before Colin started protesting,” said Reid. “That was not a topic of the NFL off the field. For Jay-Z to come in and partner to address social justice, do it behind Colin’s back, get paid to do it … I don’t have words.”

Reid also suggested the NFL is using Jay-Z as cover for Kaepernick still not having an NFL job.

“The (injustice) that’s happened to Colin, they get to say, ‘Look, we care about social justice, we care about the black community because we’re with Jay-Z,’” said Reid.

“Jay-Z is doing the work for them. We all know that it’s unjust that Colin isn’t in an NFL locker room, the way he lost his job. But they get to pretend they care about social justice.”

Reid, 27, ended up starting all 13 games he was in uniform for the Panthers last season. He was sixth on the team with 71 tackles with one sack and one interception. In six NFL seasons, five with the 49ers, the former No. 18 overall selection in the 2013 draft has 398 career tackles and 11 interceptions.

Kaepernick will never win any more sports trophies so he’s now accepting them from left wing organizations for crashing the value of the NFL after making a name for himself as a disrespectful jerk.

Colin Kaepernick, now a free agent in the NFL has accepting an award from Amnesty International as an Ambassador of Consciousness. The award, which was handed to him yesterday, is an acknowledgement of his own kneeling for the cameras.

Ambassador of Conscience Award

The annual award is the highest honour bestowed by the organization every year and is meant for a special person who is “dedicated to fighting injustice and using their talents to inspire others.”

The award was handed out in Amsterdam, and Kaepernick gave a speech where he discussed what he described as “unlawful lynchings” by the police against African-Americans and Latinos. Kaepernick himself is biracial white and black.

It is the allegation of “lynchings” that has caused Kaepernick to begin his kneeling at the start of NFL games while he was with the San Francisco 49ers.

As a part of his acceptance speech, he said:

“Racialized oppression and dehumanizations is woven into the very fabric of our nation, the effects of which can be seen in the lawful lynching of black and brown people by the police, and the mass incarceration of black and brown lives in the prison industrial complex.

In Amnesty International’s words,

He confronts racial injustice.

He refused to compromise.

He inspired others.

Further in his speech, Kapernick defended the crux of the reason that his kneeling outrage NFL fans, which was his decision to kneel instead of stand during the playing of the National Anthem.

”How can you stand for the national anthem of a nation that preaches and propagates ‘freedom and justice for all’ that is so unjust to so many of the people living there.”

Kaepernick Lately

Since being let go by the 49ers, the player has had trouble finding new work. A few months ago he was considered to work with the Baltimore Ravens until his girlfriend, a radio star in California tweeted a racist meme about one of the players who works with the team owner. The reasoning for excluding Kaepernick from being considered for the team is that any player with such a toxic person in his life would introduce the same poison to the team.

Now, the 30 year old player is stuck by himself this year after failing to interest any team in his antics. That is, he was unable to secure any contract deals for himself. He missed the entire 2017 season as well.

Without Kaerpernick, the protests have still managed to continue both in the NFL and to a lesser extend in other sports. But, the NBA and NHL have done a great job of tamping down after seeing the devastation that the kneeling protests have done. Insulted audience members, angry that the disrespect was pointed toward the flag at a time when players were supposed to spend a moment on appreciating the military might that allows citizens to live safety, revolted at the box office. As well, last year we saw that people were cutting their subscriptions to ESPN and other networks that offered NFL content. This was not just the kneeling but also the comments from hosts on ESPN.

Part of the response was from Donald Trump personally, who said that the league should’ve suspended Kaepernick from a game, and then two games if he kept up the nonesense.

And now, fresh off of being rejected from the Seattle Seahawks, Kaepernick is still able to point to the NFL giving in and handing $90 million over to various social justice causes after negotiating with the players and the team owners. But, since he will not agree to stop his protests even with this win, Colin will not be one of the players who can negotiate for more.

As a part of the ceremony, Amnesy International’s Secretary ageneral Salil Shetty called the former athlete “widely recognized” for his “refusal to ignore or accept racial discrimination.” He’s also well known for souring fans from the NFL.

Nearer the end of his acceptance speech, Kaepernick brought up advice from Malcolm X to join up regardless of colour to change the “miserable condition that exists on this earth.”

”In truth, this is an award that I share with all of the countless people throughout the world combating the human rights violations of police officers and their uses of oppressive and excessive force.”